November 11: Resurrection and Rest

Romans 6:5. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.

United in his resurrection.

Have these just become words to you? Do these words still bring any sense of hope? Of joy? Of peace? Comfort? Or are they just something you hear every week in church but it’s become meaningless? Maybe coming back from the dead feels like just another movie plot to you. Just another trope.

But the resurrection is the center of all we believe. Not just Christ’s resurrection. Yes, it is the greatest apologetic for our faith. If it is true, so is everything else. If it is not true, we are pitiful. But we are talking here about our resurrection WITH Christ. Christ’s resurrection is meaningless for us without our union to his resurrection.

Christ’s resurrection was not his abandonment of the world. It was his total commitment to it. He is forever human. Forever one of us. He will rescue the physical world.

But again, here in Romans 6 we go even deeper. Christ’s resurrection is not just the means whereby he understands and commiserates with us. It is the means by which he brings us, by his Spirit, into his own life, his own resurrection. We are one spirit with him (1 Cor. 6:17).

Whether you realize it or not, you need the truth of the resurrection today – and every day.

You need it for your hopelessness.

You need it for your woundedness.

You need it for your stress.

You need it for your grudges.

You need it for your failures.

You need it for your crushed dreams.

You need it for you FOMO.

But how does resurrection help? It brings rest.

Rest is what you need. Rest brings repentance and forgiveness. When I realize that I will live forever, all the idols I am creating here seem so much more foolish and futile. Repent. When I realize that I will live forever, the wrongs done against me seem smaller. My wounds don’t have to be my identity. My pain, though real, is not my destiny. Forgive. Rest.

Christ’s resurrection means he is running the world. Your resurrection with him means you don’t have to. “To live is Christ” unites you to a death like his and a resurrection like his. It also unites you to a rest like his.

How can the truth of your co-resurrection with Christ bring rest to your life today?